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Uss Maryland Chronological Account of Work Performed by Pearl Harbor Navy Yard. Transcript

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Uss Maryland Chronological Account of Work Performed by Pearl Harbor Navy Yard. Transcript ROBERT F. WALDEN COLLECTION APPENDIX 2 (See Box 1, FF 8. Report: USS Maryland: Chronological Account of Work Performed by Pearl Harbor Navy Yard. [August 1944] Handwritten. [11] leaves.) USS MARYLAND CHRONOLOGICAL ACCOUNT OF WORK PERFORMED BY PEARL HARBOR NAVY YARD. TRANSCRIPT Transcription of unsigned handwritten draft of a report on repair work on the USS Maryland carried out and completed, ahead of schedule, between 11 July and August 10, 1944 Includes corrections indicated by the writer and also minor editing of spelling, capitalization and punctuation. Transcribed by Ann Yanagi University of Hawaii at Manoa Library July 2000 [Page 2 front] The USS MARYLAND (BB 46) was damaged while near the island of Saipan during the operation against that base in the summer of 1944. Damage resulted from a torpedo hit in the port side at frame 8. The forecastle deck was undamaged except for slight droop forward of frame 9. The section of the bow structure above 2nd deck forward of frame 5 was undamaged and salvageable. The remainder of the bow structure forward of frame 14 from bottom of the keel to main deck and forward of frame 7 above main deck required renewal. The stem casting was broken in three places and was distorted below 2nd deck. The keel was in place but unsalvageable forward of frame 12. All of the above damage report was sent from ComServRon 1 [p. 3] in the forward area addressed to ComServPac at Hawaii. ComServPac after consultation re- addressed the message to the Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor for action. ComServPac also made the ship available for urgent repairs. [Insert from p. 2 verso] The estimated time of arrival of the vessel in the Navy Yard was July 10th. In advance of the ship’s arrival, the Navy Yard analyzed those dispatches which described the damage to the ship, and the plans on file were checked to see if enough information was available to prepare plans for the repairs. The plans which were required, but did not have, were sent for by dispatch. These dispatches went to Bureau of Ships and the Navy Yard Puget Sound, the home yard of the vessel. The plans were requested to be sent airmail as expeditiously as possible. The Design Superintendent had the responsibility for this phase of the job. [p. 3 continued] Since the MARYLAND was of riveted construction, authorization was requested by dispatch from BuShips to make welded sections and repairs which was approved in short order. This authorization was requested before the ship’s arrival so that work could begin. Before the ship arrived, a conference was held with the following important officers in [p. 4] attendance the design superintendent, the production officer, and the planning officer to discuss the extent of work to be performed and time available for the repairs. A reconstruction job such as this one divides itself into three main phases: first, cleaning up debris and removing damaged steel; second, rebuilding; and third, fitting out the interior with decks, bulkheads, piping, wiring, etc. As the rebuilding phase makes or breaks a job, the procedure to be followed and its scheduling has to be worked out in details which is done by the planners in the planning department. The parts have to be detailed into a timed schedule. In this case it looked as if a combination of piece by piece erection on the ship and prefabrication of two sub-assemblies in the [p. 5] ship fitter shop would be the best bet. The planning division started the work before the ship's arrival by sending work requests to the cognizant shops by the use of their teletypes. And in this way the production officer was cognizant of work being done and his responsibility. While the Appendix 2: Page 2 sub-assemblies were in the process of being built, considerable work, piece by piece, could be going into the ship. The first sub-assemblies were to be completed in the shop simultaneously with the completion of the piece-meal erection, with the second sub- assembly to follow one day later. Final decision as to the amount of replacement involved depended on the ship being dry docked so that damage could be properly inspected. The ship arrived on the afternoon [p. 6] of 10 July and was berthed at Baker 12. It was decided to berth the ship at Baker 12 before docking her for two reasons. First, it was thought advisable to send divers down to check condition of the forefoot, and generally to inspect generally before putting the ship in dry dock. Second, Baker 12, being under the hammerhead crane, possessed the best crane service in the Navy Yard. And it was thought that possibly some of the damaged and presumably pendant structure might require removing before dry docking the vessel. These decisions were made by the Hull Superintendent, the Docking Officer, the Berthing Officer, the Availability Officer, and the Assistant Planning Officer. Dry Dock #2 was picked instead of Dry Dock #4 probably because Dry Dock #2 is closer to [p. 7] the industrial facilities in the Navy Yard and is better to work a big job in than Dry Dock #4. It may be noted that only Dry Dock #2 and Dry Dock #4 could accommodate a ship of the MARYLAND’s draft. An inspection of the ship disclosed no impediment to docking. Accordingly, the vessel was docked in Dry Dock #2 on 11 July. As soon as the dock was pumped down, the damage was inspected by officials, planners, and draftsmen and it became obvious that a portion of the structure immediately below the weather deck at the bow could be salvaged. This was a fortunate condition, inasmuch as this structure has on it many deck fittings difficult to replace and tedious to install, such as chocks, bits, hawse pipes, etc. [Page 8] The tremendous growth of the Pacific Fleet had not reduced the demand for individual ships. As each ship is made ready for sea it is fitted immediately into a niche in the next scheduled operating plan. For this reason Forces Afloat continually plug to cut down overhaul periods. They squeeze the time to be allowed to an absolute minimum, and then squeeze a little more to be certain. On this occasion it looked hopeless for the MARYLAND to make the next operation. The MARYLAND was made available on a Recomp basis, that is to say, the completion date was left to the discretion of the Navy Yard. On July 12th, one day after the vessel docked, the Navy Yard estimated that the job would be complete on the 28th of August. This information was relayed [p. 9] to the Fleet Maintenance Office at ComServPac on 22 July. At the weekly Production Conference (at which detail matters of scheduling completion dates for ships under overhaul are discussed by heads of sections of the Production Division) it was estimated that the Navy Yard would undock on 5 August and would probably complete on 17 August. Forces Afloat also saw a light and scheduled the MARYLAND for an operation beginning 11 August, one ahead of that originally planned. The Yard was presented with an ultimatum to deliver her on 10 August, with at least a tight hull, if the whole job could not be completed. Consequently, on 2 August a completion date of 11 August was set by Appendix 2: Page 3 the Production Division. The work schedules covering some of the phases of repairs are shown below: [p. 10] Original Advance Actual Schedule Schedule Enter Dry Dock 11 July 11 July Complete burning off damaged steel 16 July 15 July Complete erection of new structure below second deck 29 July 26 July Complete testing of compartments 4 August 28 July Complete upper structure 9 August 31 July Flood dry dock 10 August 1 August Undock 11 August *4 August Complete all work 21 August 10 August * 3 days not scheduled by Yard were spent by the ship checking turret roller paths All during this availability miscellaneous repairs were being done which were not the result of battle damage such as the replacement of a Zeiss rangefinder and of a catapult motor. Minor replacements had to be made in some of the gunnery installments such as a motor for the secondary battery and some new [p. 11] powder loading chains for the main battery. Radar repairs were also accomplished. Necessary spares for electrical and radar equipment were procured. On the midnight of the 10th of August, all work was essentially complete. Appendix 2: Page 4 .
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